December 6, 2017

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First update for Fitbit Ionic brings 100 new watch faces and 60 apps

by John_A

Highlights include apps for Uber, Philips Hue, Yelp, and Flipboard.

The Fitbit Ionic is Fitbit’s first true smartwatch, and although not perfect, it’s a great step in the right direction for the company. The first software for the Ionic was announced on Fitbit’s blog on December 5, and there’s a lot included with it.

The biggest focus of this update is on watch faces and apps, and this is quite obvious with the fact that users will now be able to download and access over 100 new watch faces and more than 60 additional apps. On the apps side of things, some of the big names include Walgreens, Nest, Philips Hue, Yelp, Flipboard, The New York Times, TripAdvisor, Uber, United Airlines, British Airways, and Lyft.

Fitbit’s included some official watch faces of its own, but the majority of them have been created by third-party developers using the Fitbit OS SDK.

A few other things to keep an eye out for:

Fitbit Labs – A way for Ionic users to test out experimental apps and watch faces that are “designed to motivate you to make healthy behavior changes.”

Fitbit Leaderboard – View your step goals and other activity against friends and family members.

Support for multiple cards – You can now choose which card you want to use for Fitbit Pay directly on the Ionic; supported banks are up to 25 in 13 different markets.

Improved performance – Fitbit’s updated touchscreen performance of the Ionic so it’s faster and more fluid to use.

Deezer coming in 2018 – Starting next year, subscribers to Deezer Premium+ will be able to access all of their music right on their wrist.

This update is rolling out to the Ionic now, and instructions on how to get it can be found here.

Samsung’s Gear Sport is currently the best alternative to Android Wear